Patna: RJD spokesperson for the past two decades, Mritunjay Tiwary, joined the BJP on Friday in the presence of the party’s state president Sanjay Saraogi and former minister Mangal Pandey. Sanatan Sevak Sansthan chief Arvind Kumar Ashok, along with other members of RJD and Jan Suraaj, also joined the BJP ahead of the July 30 Bankipur assembly byelection.Tiwari had quit the RJD last week, alleging that leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was surrounded by “termites” who were eating into the party’s vitals, and that RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad had become helpless. After joining the BJP, Tiwari said he would live and die for the party.“RJD has neither intent nor policy and the party lacks leadership. Congress has been exposed during the recent student protests,” he said.“I joined the BJP after considering PM Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and CM Samrat Choudhary’s efforts to make Bihar prosperous,” he added.Welcoming Tiwari, Saraogi said that he had long regarded him as a capable spokesperson committed to probity who had been in the wrong party. “His entry into the BJP family today will infuse the organisation with new energy and strength,” he added.Pandey said Tiwary’s move was a major setback for the RJD and a boost for the BJP, adding that Tiwary had been close to the ideology of cultural nationalism and had established a distinct identity in Bihar as a spokesperson.
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